Kenji "The Food Lab" is a finalist for a James Beard award in the category of cooking/recipes/instruction. Keeping my fingers crossed. You deserve it.

So tropical storm Debby has decided to camp out in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Sunday was wild as we wet vac'ed and mopped water out of our house. 14 1/2 inches of rain in less than 24 hours most of it at high tide will cause problems. Watched a couple of our papaya trees snap and break apart and the water totally swamp our dock. Today is just a lot of wind. We lost power for about 2 hours on Sunday afternoon. I was up at 4:30 Sunday morning and had nothing to eat until around 3:30 Sunday afternoon. My husband drove across the bridge and got burgers from Checkers. The dude in the drive thru asked if he was from the beach. He said yes and the dude said if it were not for the beach folks they would have considered closing.

My question is while Checkers burgers are not the best, when you can't cook and are really, really hungry does marginal food taste like 5 star restaurant food when you just require sustenance? It did for us as no one talked, just ate and loved it.

This week has been a rough one. My son showed me this and it made me smile and salivate at the same time. Enjoy!

http://imgur.com/a/iQ5nz

Just received a tin of Shichimi Togarashi for Mother's Day. Do my kids know me or what!?! What I need is some inspiration. I know it is used as a condiment in Japan, but does anyone use it in any special way?
Any foods it just goes with instinctively?

I have a large tree full of Surinam cherries. They are starting to drop (ripe) and would love to make something with them. We eat them plain and with sugar on crackers. I know they are not in everyone's garden and if you have eaten a not fully ripe one it can turn you off of them, but they are really good when ripe.

Surinam cherries and loquats were fruits my friends and I used to poach from the neighbors yards when we were kids. Both had big seeds and were perfect for seed spitting wars : )

Anyone have a web site to purchase marzipan? I need about a 1/2 pound to roll out to make this:

http://www.academiabarilla.com/italian-recipes/step-step-recipes/cassata-siciliana.aspx

I know finding a 1/2 pound may be wishful thinking, but am willing to purchase a full pound. Having trouble finding a site.

Made shrimp stock yesterday. Looking for something interesting to do with it. Do not want to make bisque or jambalaya, not that there's anything wrong with them : ) Just looking for something more off the beaten path. Something Asian perhaps?

I have a 4 lb pork loin. The label states: pork loin shoulder end. It is marinating in soy sauce, garlic, ginger and cumin. I have seen several different methods. Should I brown it first in a cast iron pan and put it in the oven? Or just cook in a roasting pan. Temp is also a concern. What temp and for how long?

Looking for a recipe for tomato bisque. Would prefer it not have beef bouillon cubes and use fresh tomatoes. Looked online and not happy with what I found. Don't mind using cream and/or butter. Please help me out. I've got about 20 lbs. of tomatoes and my husband has requested this. As he doesn't ask for much as far as cooking, he really just eats what I make, I would like to oblige.

I'm figuring about $150M or so. After paying off our house and telling our mortgage holder what they can do with themselves, my food fantasy would be a trip through Italy. First to my fathers parents homeland of Basilicata then on to Tuscany, Rome, Naples, and Milan. I never realized as a child how much my dad's food choices were directly from the area his parents came from. I would love to explore where my grandparents grew up. What about you?

http://www.ktre.com/story/15483194/man-calls-911-claiming-taco-bell-wont-serve-him

Ah, Florida!! Since this happened across the street from my husbands business we heard the rest of the story. The bar the dude came from has a Checkers within 50 feet. With a walk up window. But he just had to have that taco.

So, I want to learn the art of canning. Don't know anyone who does it and will have to rely on info learned online. There are always sites that claim they are the "best or most complete", but for a novice I wouldn't know the best from the worst or anything in between. Any advice?

Looking for some tips on cooking lentils in a rice cooker. Anyone tried this? Any tips? I would like the lentils to have a "toothy" feel without being hard. I don't have a ultra, mega, all the bells and whistles rice cooker just put the rice, water and salt in and push the button. So is this method obtainable? Would a slow cooker be better? Would brown or green lentils work better? Do I need to soak? Not a clue on any of this. Help!

I will be making the Momofuku Compost Cookies for Christmas. Would like to know if the dough excluding the add ins can be made ahead of time (like today) and frozen. I would then thaw the dough, incorporate the add ins and proceed with the recipe. Anyone tried this? Will this really save me time? Any suggestions will be helpful. Thanks.

I have included the recipe

Makes 3 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Copycat Momofuku Compost Cookies.)

Creamables
1 1/2 sticks butter

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons dry, used coffee grounds

Wet Ingredients

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla

Dry Ingredients

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour

3/4 cup roughly crushed potato chips

1/2 cup roughly crushed pretzels

1/2 cup roughly crushed Fritos

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 teaspoon baking soda

1.Preheat oven to 350º.
2.In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
3.In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
4.Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
5.In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
6.Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
7.Shape dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each.
8.Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
9.Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Nothing political. Not gonna p*** anyone off. Just raman!

http://steamykitchen.com/11151-ramen-dress.html

Going to Vegas this weekend for our sons 21st birthday. One of his food requests is a kobe burger. Just saw the post about the Cheesecake Factory, funny because I was just on the site. There is a location in Vegas, one of many options for a kobe burger. Has anyone had this? Where is the best place in Vegas for a kobe burger?

I have a 6 pound duck and looking for suggestions. This recipe is looking good http://cayobo.tripod.com/hukilauduck.html but I am open to any cooking style. Also interested in what side dishes you enjoy with your quacker. Also, do you like to cook it whole or cut up?? Throw some ideas my way.

We are having a couple over on Sunday to watch the Buffalo vs. Miami game. He grew up in Buffalo until age 15 and she left around age 6 and still has family there. I would like to make something indigenous to the area in addition to wings. Any SEers from the area? I need some ideas. I could just ask them but I really would like the element of surprise. I am not making a dinner per se, just grazing so anything goes. I have planned the wings, Cuban sandwiches, a tres leches cake, beer and a pitcher of mojitos. I would like to balance out the menu with something else from Buffalo.

Saturday is my youngest sons 20th birthday and he has requested a red velvet cake. I got a really good looking recipe from the site The Joy of Baking. http://joy of baking.com In the instructions it states to freeze the cake layers for an hour before cutting in half. It is a 4 layer cake made with 2 9 inch cakes and cream cheese frosting. My questions are: Can I freeze it overnight? Will this compromise the cake? How long should I thaw it before cutting and frosting? I would like to make the cake Friday evening and do the cutting and frosting on Saturday afternoon. I am trying to get as much done in advance as possible.

Tomarrow night I am making Indian Butter Chicken served over basmati rice and was wondering what to serve with it. I will be feeding 7 good eaters. Salad? Side dishes? I am fairly new to Indian food and am coming up blank. Help!!

Sooo, has anyone seen the new KFC commercial with "Chef" Sandra Lee and G. Garvin. Saw it this morning and just about spit my coffee. Have to admit, never heard of G. Garvin. Looked him up and he seems ligit although there is no mention of culinary school of any kind. Can't get a good grip on his background aside from 3 cookbooks and cooking with Leno. I was wondering if real chefs had a problem with this or if they just figure that everyone realizes Shmandra is not a chef and this is a commercial for KFC and the less they make of it the better. So Chefs: Let it slide or does this p*** you off???

Speaking with a friend the other day she was lamenting over her weight gain. She wants to get back to a healthy, low meat diet. I suggested looking on some websites for some ideas and gave her a few to look at. She is open to all veggies, fruits, grains and unprocessed foods. Her problem is getting bored with her meals. She is not open to spending vast amounts of time in the kitchen as she works 9-10 hours a day. Also factoring in is her husband and 2 adult sons will not be joining her on this healthy eating menu change. Anyone have some "go to" websites for interesting menu ideas??

Any NY SEers doing this? If you are, let us know how it's going! Sounds like a lot of fun.

ALDI just opened some stores in the Tampa Bay area. I've been to the website and understand the concept. Question #1 is: How is the quality of fresh items? (meat/dairy) How do they compare to regular grocery chains like Publix and Sweetbay? Is it worth going out of my way for? Question #2 is: What about the wine selection? Good prices--- but good quality?

I read them all, but it's not helpful for me to have to re-read and look for the winners' names out of about 500. Can anyone clue me in? Thanks!... More